It was born with the hope of being able to explore one of Saturn’s moons, but it could have many uses in other NASA missions.
los NASA rovers They work great in the rough terrain of Mars, but if you take Curiosity out of its comfort zone… We have a problem. Not all planets have geology and landscapes suitable for navigation in this type of vehicle, although this has been proven Very useful on the Moon and Marsin the rest of the solar system they will need it more than wheels. That’s why it is NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory She begins building a new land vehicle to explore more rugged terrain, and the result bears a striking resemblance to snakes.
Why did NASA make a snake robot? Given the prototype’s design, the question answers itself, and that’s on the planets Full of cracks and uneven groundThe range of motion provided by this design is more efficient. These bots are named eel (Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, a play on words with eel translation in English) and is able to move between cracks and crawl On sand, ice and even water. It’s a lot more versatile than the Rovers we’re used to, we’ll get it More accurate landscape information Farthest from our solar system. He explained it at NASA her work in a permit:
“EELS uses rotary thrusters, a first we have used in this type of robot. They act as both gripping mechanisms and thruster units underwater, allowing the robot to achieve a greater range of motion on slippery or unstable ground, such as sand or gravel.”
NASA is testing the robot on ice skating rinks. picture: NASA JPL
EELS was born with the goal of one day exploring one of Saturn’s moons
The starting gun for this project came about as a result of some discovery water vapor samples projected into space by Enceladusone of Saturn’s moons. This satellite is completely frozen, so it was completely out of the question for rovers like Perseverance, my curiosity to explore its surface in search of water. NASA JPL started building the robot to fit this kind of terrain, and they’ve been testing The validity of its articulated parts on frozen ground arenas A different simulator with cracks, sand and water.
It could be EELS Exploration of Saturn’s moons In the future, but when it’s finished, we’ll be able to help our astronauts in all sorts of ways NASA missions. There’s talk that it could be a good signature for Project Artemis, given that it has the perfect shape and characteristics for sneaking into lunar craters looking for water or new materials.
Founder Dwight D Eisenhower Date of Establishment 07-29-1958 alternative name The National Center for Aeronautics and Space Administration Number of Employees 18,000